Employment increased in 318 of 346 largest counties for year ending June 2017

December 07, 2017

From June 2016 to June 2017, employment increased in 318 of the 346 counties with 75,000 or more jobs. Among these large counties, Midland, Texas, had the largest over-the-year percentage increase (+7.3 percent), followed by Weld, Colorado (+5.3 percent) and Utah County, Utah (+5.2 percent). The national job growth rate over the same period was 1.7 percent.

Lucas, Ohio, had the largest over-the-year percentage decrease in employment among the largest U.S. counties, with a loss of 1.9 percent for the 12 months ending June 2017.

In June 2017, national employment was 145.2 million. Over the year, employment increased 1.7 percent, or 2.4 million. The 346 U.S. counties with 75,000 or more jobs accounted for 72.7 percent of total U.S. employment in June 2017. These 346 counties had a net job growth of 1.8 million over the year, accounting for 76.8 percent of the overall U.S. employment increase.